Queen Elizabeth & Kibale Chimps — 6 Days

Ishasha tree-climbing lions, Kazinga Channel hippos, and Kibale chimpanzee trekking.

Overview

Few safari circuits in East Africa pack as much primate drama and big-game spectacle into six days as this classic Uganda loop. You begin in the ancient rainforest of Kibale National Park — one of Africa's most important chimpanzee sanctuaries — where over 1,500 habituated chimps swing through a cathedral of mahogany and fig trees. A guided trek brings you face to face with troops of these remarkably human relatives, and the forest floor hides red-tailed monkeys, L'Hoest's monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabeys, and the giant forest hog.

From Kibale you descend into the Great Rift Valley to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda's most visited wildlife reserve. The park's northern sector around Mweya Peninsula sits at the convergence of Lakes Edward and George, linked by the famous Kazinga Channel. A two-hour boat safari here is consistently one of Uganda's finest wildlife experiences — the channel banks hold one of Africa's densest concentrations of hippopotamus alongside Nile crocodile, African skimmer, and flocks of open-billed stork. Elephants and buffalo wade to the water's edge and the birdlist regularly tops 600 species.

The southern Ishasha sector delivers Queen Elizabeth's headline act: tree-climbing lions. The Ishasha pride has earned global fame for its habit of draping themselves across the broad branches of ancient fig trees — behaviour documented here and in Tanzania's Lake Manyara but rarely seen elsewhere. Game drives through Ishasha's open savannah also produce Uganda kob, topi, warthog, and occasionally leopard threading through the riverine forest.

Throughout the circuit you travel in a customised 4×4 safari vehicle with pop-up roof, and nights are spent at well-positioned lodges and camps that keep you immersed in wilderness. The route from Entebbe loops west through fertile Ugandan countryside, returning through rolling tea estates and equatorial forest — a journey as rewarding as the destinations themselves.

Route: Entebbe → Kibale → Queen Elizabeth (Mweya + Ishasha) → Entebbe

Day-by-day itinerary

1
Entebbe to Kibale National Park

Your driver-guide meets you at Entebbe International Airport or your Kampala hotel for an early morning departure heading west through the fertile hills and equatorial farmland of central Uganda. The drive of roughly five to six hours passes through Fort Portal town, the gateway to the Rwenzori foothills, before entering the moist lowland forest fringe of Kibale National Park. Arrive at your lodge in the late afternoon, check in, and join a short briefing on the following morning's chimpanzee trek.

🏨 Primate Lodge Kibale or similar 🍽 L, D
2
Kibale Chimpanzee Trek

Rise before dawn for a 7:00 am park briefing at Kanyanchu Visitor Centre, where rangers assign groups and review trek etiquette. Once inside the forest your tracker-guides read the chimps' overnight nesting trails and vocalizations to lead you to the troop — a moment of first contact that never loses its power, as these animals share roughly 98.7% of human DNA. Spend up to one permitted hour observing feeding, grooming, and social behaviour, then return to the lodge for a hot lunch. The afternoon is free to walk the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary community trail, home to sitatunga and eight primate species.

🏨 Primate Lodge Kibale or similar 🍽 B, L, D
3
Kibale to Queen Elizabeth — Kazinga Channel Boat Safari

After breakfast depart south towards Queen Elizabeth National Park, descending the escarpment into the Rift Valley with sweeping views over the Rwenzori Mountains on clear mornings. Check in at your Mweya-area lodge and enjoy lunch overlooking the peninsula. At 3:00 pm board a launch on the Kazinga Channel for a two-hour boat safari — hippos crowd the shallows in pods of dozens, Nile crocodiles bask on muddy banks, and clouds of African skimmer and pied kingfisher dart above the surface. Return to the lodge as the equatorial sun drops behind the Rift wall.

🏨 Mweya Safari Lodge or Jacana Safari Lodge or similar 🍽 B, L, D
4
Queen Elizabeth — Game Drives & Crater Lakes

An early morning game drive through the Kasenyi Plains, the park's most productive big-game corridor, targets the large lion prides and elephant herds that move between Lakes Edward and George. Uganda kob perform their famous lek displays in open grassland while buffalo herds of several hundred graze the floodplain. In the afternoon explore the park's northern volcanic crater-lake trail on foot — a surreal landscape of perfectly circular lakes set in steep-sided craters, some tinged pink with flamingos. Evening game drives or sundowners from the Mweya Peninsula round out the day.

🏨 Mweya Safari Lodge or Jacana Safari Lodge or similar 🍽 B, L, D
5
Ishasha Sector — Tree-Climbing Lions

After an early breakfast transfer south through the park's interior towards the Ishasha sector on the Democratic Republic of Congo border. The road passes through rolling savannah studded with Phoenix palms and bisected by seasonal luggas — scan carefully for leopard in the riverine thickets. Ishasha's defining experience is finding the famous lion prides dozing high in the broad branches of Ficus natalensis fig trees, a behaviour thought to be a response to tsetse flies and the cool breezes above the savannah. Game drives also produce topi, oribi, African elephant, and increasingly common African wild dog packs recolonising the sector. Overnight in or near Ishasha.

🏨 Ishasha Wilderness Camp or similar 🍽 B, L, D
6
Ishasha to Entebbe — Departure

Enjoy a final early morning game drive in Ishasha before breakfast, one last chance for tree-climbing lion sightings as the pride returns from nocturnal hunts. After breakfast begin the long return drive northeast through Mbarara and Masaka towards Entebbe, a journey of approximately seven to eight hours with comfort stops. Your driver-guide delivers you to Entebbe International Airport or a Kampala hotel in good time for your onward flight, carrying memories of chimpanzees, hippos, and lions silhouetted against the Rift Valley sky.

🍽 B

Includes

Return road transfers from Entebbe/Kampala in a 4×4 safari vehicle with pop-up roof and experienced driver-guide
5 nights full-board accommodation (dinner, bed, breakfast, and packed or hot lunches)
One chimpanzee trekking permit in Kibale National Park
Kazinga Channel afternoon boat safari
All national park entrance and conservation fees for Kibale and Queen Elizabeth National Parks
Game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park (Mweya and Ishasha sectors)
Airport meet-and-greet on arrival

Excludes

International flights to and from Entebbe
Uganda visa fees (check current e-visa requirements before travel)
Travel and medical insurance (mandatory)
Gorilla trekking permit (available as an add-on at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest)
Gratuities for lodge staff and driver-guide (budgeting USD 10–15 per person per day is customary)
Personal drinks (sodas, bottled water beyond what is provided, alcoholic beverages)
Optional activities not listed in inclusions (chimp habituation experience, night game drives, community walks)

Good to know — flights & hotels

This price is for the tour/adventure only. International & domestic flights and hotels are not included — we'll gladly suggest trusted options that you book directly.

Where to stay → Booking flights →